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The Mopria Alliance, a global, non-profit mobile printing organization, continues to expand its membership, with a number of Brother and Epson devices recently receiving certification. Founded in September of last year, the Alliance is made up of leading document imaging technology companies with the stated goal of providing simple wireless printing from smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. Brother and Epson are joining the ranks of dozens of other companies, including Canon, HP, Samsung, Xerox, Konica Minolta, Lexmark, Ricoh and others.

While it seems the strategies of some OEMs is to focus on direct sales and enterprise solutions, leaving their independent dealer partners out of that loop, Xerox Corp. is looking toward its dealer base to help fuel further growth. During a briefing with key analysts, the company outlined several products and initiatives that should bolster its channel support and offerings.

“Our indirect channel is the engine of growth,” said John Corley, president of Channel Partner Operations at Xerox.

The Mopria Alliance, a global, non-profit mobile printing organization, continues to expand its membership, with a number of Brother and Epson devices recently receiving certification. Founded in September of last year, the Alliance is made up of leading document imaging technology companies with the stated goal of providing simple wireless printing from smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. Brother and Epson are joining the ranks of dozens of other companies, including Canon, HP, Samsung, Xerox, Konica Minolta, Lexmark, Ricoh and others.

Samsung’s new Smartify campaign, which was highlighted at its recent National Dealer Summit, focuses on the “connected workplace,” which goes beyond just printers and MFPs. It’s about all devices—tablets, smart phones, laptops—working together as a “smart” ecosystem, where the MFP is the hub, letting users connect their devices seamlessly and get business done faster. This same campaign encourages Samsung dealers to sell the company’s other hardware products, such as tablets (including the new channel-only Tab 4 Education), Chromebooks and wide-format displays

“With our Smartify campaign, Samsung is furthering its commitment to B2B and support of the channel, providing opportunities for dealers to grow and deliver on the promise of a digital business,” said Tod Pike, senior vice president at Samsung’s Enterprise Business Division

“An opportunity to disrupt means an opportunity to grow,” said Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America (SEA), during his presentation at the company’s 2014 National Dealer Summit in Dallas. This simple yet telling statement was an apropos precursor to the rest of his comments, which were rife with eye-opening statistics and lofty goals.

With over 300 people from around 100 U.S. dealers in attendance, Baxter explained that not only does the company have an aggressive approach in every segment that it plays in, but it also has a track record of success in the electronics industry that few can match. Take, for instance, that Samsung is the worldwide market-share leader in six categories, including smartphones, TVs and—a surprise to most, probably—refrigerators (Baxter noted that the company has the world’s fastest-growing appliance brand); it sits in the second position for tablets. Other impressive facts about Samsung: it ships 1.5 million mobile devices every day, sells 92 TVs every minute and has filed the second most number of patents (4,676 versus IBM’s 6,809) among tech companies.

Samsung’s vertical-market approach to solutions was unveiled in June 2013 at the company’s national dealer meeting in Chicago. A week later at its U.S. headquarters in Ridgefield Park, NJ, Samsung opened its first Executive Briefing Center (EBC), a facility that showcases proprietary technologies in industry-specific settings such as education and healthcare. Flash forward to last week’s meeting in Dallas, where Tod Pike, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Samsung Electronics America (SEA), said, “Everything we do and everything we think about is how specific customers in vertical markets can use our products. When you do that, it really takes you to not only the use case of the device, but also the interoperability of that device within that vertical market, the workflow that leads to that interoperability, and the connected partners with whom we would need to partner in order to make that solution work for our customers.”

Data security is serious stuff. Anyone who follows the news, whether it’s financial, retail or celebrity-related, has seen countless stories regarding security breaches of personal data. At an analyst briefing in NYC, HP highlighted the importance of IT security for business and introduced a number of products and solutions to help ease the pain of the IT director trying to make printing safer for their organization.

BLI recently attended a technology showcase at Konica Minolta’s New York City Customer Engagement Center. While much of the event was geared to the launch of the company’s new production hardware devices, the company also provided the latest on the earnings front and shared the latest developments on the software and solutions side. Attendees also got a first look at the 3D printers Konica Minolta will be carrying as part of its new partnership with 3D Systems.

It’s clear that Konica Minolta continues to reap the benefits of its continued investment in the production space. The company’s global production revenue grew 39 percent in 2013, according to Rick Taylor, president and chief operating office for Konica Minolta’s US operations. Taylor also made mention of Konica Minolta’s 22 percent global revenue growth in the office space and 25 percent total MFP growth.

Today business owners are doing their research when it comes to replacing their printing fleet. Companies want products that are eco-friendly, reliable, efficient and flexible. Companies are turning to standardizing their printing fleet to reduce network traffic, save space by consolidating multiple devices, lower cost and improve workflow. The most popular option for standardizing is multifunction printers (MFP). Demand for these devices has been on the rise increasing from 2.8 million in 2005 to 3.1 million in 2007. MFP’s are now offering a wide range of features to meet the needs of business owners.

Popular Features Today's Businesses Love About MFPs:

Offers Monochrome and Color - Shipments for color MFPs increased from 246,00 in 2005 to 477,000 in 2007. When you want a machine to do it all including Wi-Fi, Ethernet, color and monochrome printing, a MFP machine does it all.

Competitive Prices – As demand for MFP machines goes up, you would think the price would too, but you would be wrong. MFP devices are more affordable now then ever with some dealers offering leasing and renting options.

Eco-Friendly And Saves Space - When you consolidate large pieces of office equipment into one, you will really notice the change in available space. By consolidating your printer, copier, fax, and scanner into one piece of office equipment you will use 40%-50% less floor space and decrease your electricity bill by only powering one machine. MFP’s also make being eco-friendly easier for large companies allowing double sided printing, eco-friendly mode for printing, and allowing managed print services to control unauthorized prints.

Only Pay For What You Need – Venders now offer various models of MFP’s with a variety of features and functions. After assessing your office needs, you can order a MFP that suites your needs and budget. By consolidating your devices into one machine you also reduce the need for large support and maintenance teams.

Boot Productivity – With a machine that can perform more then one task at once, your employees can also multitask efficiently. Giving your company access to state-of-the-art technology gives them the tools to perform at their best.

Since the release of the MFP there has been some drawback with business owners being concerned if one function breaks the whole machine breaks, but that is no longer an issue. With the benefits of the MFP meeting business needs, the demand and improvement of the MFP will increase. When you are ready to save time and maximize your resources contact us to get started!

From day-to-day tasks to big projects and presentations the office printer is a staple for productivity. Businesses count on print jobs everyday and it seems there are only problems when you are in a hurry. Keeping your printers functioning properly and regular cleaning will reduce the need for maintenance calls and draining your budget by replacing expensive office equipment. Printers range in size and functionality but here are some common tips to helps improve the printer lifespan and reduce poor print quality in the office.

Tips to improve print quality on any printer:

Keep an eye on expiration dates; ink and toner can dry in the cartridges if not used regularly causing lower quality prints. While dried ink will not harm your printer it will harm print quality.